Campbell Soup Co. has completed its previously announced acquisition of Snyder’s-Lance, creating a new Campbell Snacks division.
The $50-a-share, all-cash deal, originally valued at just under $5 billion when it was announced in December, represents an enterprise value of about $6.1 billion at closure, Camden-based Campbell said in a news release.
“Snyder’s-Lance represents a strategic and transformative acquisition for Campbell, creating a $10 billion company with nearly half of our annual net sales in the faster-growing snacks category,” CEO and President Denise Morrison said in a prepared statement. “The combination of Campbell and Snyder’s-Lance creates a unique, diversified snacking portfolio of differentiated brands and a large variety of better-for-you snacks for consumers. I am excited about the combination and confident that it will create significant shareholder value through both revenue growth and cost synergies.”
The new Campbell Snacks unit, based in the U.S., will include Snyder’s-Lance and Pepperidge Farm, Campbell said. It will be led by Carlos Abrams-Rivera, former president, U.S. Biscuits and Snacks, reporting to Luca Mignini, president, Global Biscuits and Snacks.
“We carefully selected leaders from Campbell and Snyder’s-Lance to form the Campbell Snacks leadership team, based on their expertise and understanding of how to leverage both businesses to support overall growth and profitability across the enterprise,” Abrams-Rivera said in a statement. “The Campbell Snacks team will focus on optimizing the value of our U.S. snacks business to deepen our partnership with customers through the power of the combined portfolio.”
The new unit’s brands will include Goldfish, Milano, Snyder’s of Hanover, Lance, Kettle Brand and more.
Campbell said its snacks portfolio generated about $2.5 billion in net sales in fiscal 2017. Snyder’s-Lance reported $2.2 billion in net sales in 2017. The addition of Snyder’s-Lance will push snacking to about 47 percent of Campbell’s annual net sales, up from the previous 32 percent. The company’s signature soup portfolio will represent about 26 percent of annual net sales.
